Inter threaten transfer boycott

Inter general manager Ernesto Paolillo threatened small clubs over the TV rights split. “If they take our money, we won't buy their players.”

The situation is tearing Serie A apart, as five clubs (Inter, Milan, Juventus, Napoli and Roma) lost a vote to decide how the pay-per-view television rights would be divided up between the 20 sides.

“This split in the Lega will spread into a transfer market battle, because the big clubs could just decide to trade with each other,” declared Paolillo on Radio Crc.

“We can say that very openly. Transfers are negotiated with clubs you have a good rapport with.

“If on the one hand those 15 clubs take our money away from the five ‘big' sides, then we won't buy their players, as that would give them even more funding.”

It is a very complicated affair and at this point the argument is not even over the way money is divided up, but rather the system agencies will use to decide which clubs have the more important fanbase.

“It's not true that the five big clubs are against these surveys of fans, but rather against the criteria the 15 smaller outfits are forcing on the surveys. It doesn't fit the reality of the situation,” continued Inter general manager Paolillo.

“Including the viewing figures is totally irrelevant. For example, for Inter-Chievo you get 1m viewers and they are divided equally between the clubs, without taking into account the precise number of fans who tuned in for each side.”